Older people and the process of learning: New needs and discredited approaches

We all tend to think of older people as being about 15 years older than we are – whatever our age is – and yet it is now generally true that old people are a lot younger than they ever were. This means that almost everything that has been said and written about – for example – the over 50s no longer applies. Because of the demographic changes that are increasing healthy longevity, there has to be a reappraisal of the nature of work and the organization of employment, but unhappily there is little sign of this either on the part of governments or HRD managers and there has been little lead from the UK Employers Forum on Age which was supposed to address these issues.